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River Valley superintendent placed on leave

MARION — The River Valley Local Schools superintendent is on leave after the district received an anonymous email alleging misconduct.

Superintendent James Peterson was placed on paid administrative leave on Friday, Nancy Richards, president of the River Valley Local Schools Board of Education, confirmed.

"As is routine procedure for anyone that's a subject of an investigation, he was placed on administrative leave on Friday, and the board really isn't able to comment on the allegations or the investigation while it's going on," she said.

The board plans to hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at River Valley High School to discuss the matter, she said.

Peterson, who has lived in the district around 25 years, has been superintendent since 2013. Before that, Peterson was superintendent of Fredericktown Local Schools from 2009 to 2013. His annual salary is $105,000, according to his contract.

Wesley Osborne, the board's vice president, said the decision to place Peterson on leave stemmed from an anonymous email.

School board members declined to comment on the nature of the allegations against Peterson. Peterson did not respond to a message left on his phone by press time.

The email did not contain criminal allegations, said Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey, but a copy was provided to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. That was because Peterson asked the sheriff's office to find out who sent the email and whether the sender had committed a crime, Bailey said.

The sheriff said he believed the harassment claims were worth looking into given the "polarizing" climate within the River Valley school district.

The sheriff said River Valley students, parents, faculty and staff have been divided into two factions over the case of former River Valley high school teacher Mark Bollinger. The sheriff said both sides have been making complaints against the other side to the sheriff's office, none of which resulted in charges.